The Russellville Junior High Westside Whirlwind volleyball team powered through Russellville Eastside Monday night in the much anticipated rivalry game. It is the first time since Westside head coach Jonathan Neeley has taken over the program that the West has swept the East.

“The Westside did a lot of things right,” Eastside head coach Cindy Williams said after the game. “They played great. My kids fought hard. We have some things to work on.”

“I was so proud of the way the girls stayed mentally tough and fought the whole game,” Neeley said of the West’s performance.

In the eight-grade B team game, Westside won 25-14, 25-21. East’s Kara Shaffer had three points. Paige May had eight points. In the eighth-grade A team game, Westside continued to dominate. East’s Marrissa Williams had three points. Britney Pearson had five points (including one ace) and one kill. Brianna Basinger had one kill. Susan Gray had five points and one ace. West’s Maebre Hale played very well at the net, recording five kills. She was also able to come up with four digs. Hannah Marascoand Annabelle McNeill accumulated three kills a piece. Hannah also did a fine job setting and running the offense. Baylee Knight came up big on the serving line with four aces. Rachel Prockazka dominated defensively digging 12 balls and extremely passing well.

In the ninth-grade B team game, West won 25-11, 15-8, 29-27. Katina Curtis had eight points and an ace. Shelby Knight had three points. Ashley Duvall had three points and Katelyn McConnell had two points and an ace.

The ninth-grade A teams met for the first time since the RJHS Invitational. In their last meeting, Eastside came away with the win. The story was not the same after this meeting. Westside won the showdown 25-21, 27-25. East’s Bailey Wilburs scored six points. Victoria Teague scored six and two aces. Madison McKinley had three blocks, one dink and three kills. Shelbi Thompson tacked on an additional three kills and two dinks. Emily Posey had five points and one kill. Kaytie Hefley came away with one kill.

West’s Shameka Ealy played her best match of the season with nice kills and hit for a .438. She came up big in crucial times and had a couple thundering overpass kills. She also had a big block early in game one that helped swing the momentum.

Tori Underhill had four kills and three aces and was able to place the ball in open areas of the court at very pivotal moments. Taylor Hatchote had four kills.

Sarah Hale and Ashton Sitkowski had two kills each. She was also the best passer on the team passing for a 2.13 average. LeahBiggers had once ace. Shannon Perkins also played a scrappy game coming up with five digs. A.C. Pilkington did a fine job setting the right hitters at the time with 17 assists, five aces and seven digs.

“We’re not out of this,” Williams said of her team. “We’ll be back.”

Neeley remained realistic, despite the emotion of the East versus West games “as nice as tonight was,” he said. “Conference play is only half over. We still have a tough road ahead of us to get to where we want to be. We still have a lot of things we’ve got to work on and to improve but tonight was a big step in the right direction. RJHS East (12-2) travels to Little Rock Catholic on Thursday, while RJHS West (13-3) hosts Morrilton at Whirlwind Gymnasium.